This week in class we talked a lot about family boundaries--what they are and how they differ. Boundaries in this case refers to a kind of relationship. We learned that there are three different kinds:
Permeable: ones that are more connected, have more communication than may be appropriate. Think overprotective mother. {Represented by a dotted line}
Clear: Appropriate amounts of communication. {Represented by a dashed line}
Rigid: Not enough communication. {Represented by a solid line}
For one of our assignments we had to map our family boundaries with each member of our family. To do this I had to think in depth about the kind of communication I have with everyone in my family and it was really interesting. I'm not going to share on here what those boundaries were, because some of them made me kind of sad. But looking at it made me resolve to be better, to try and get closer to my family members and communicate, stay in touch with them better.
It might be interesting to try and map YOUR family boundaries and see if there are places where you can improve?
Communication between family members can also change/evolve over the course of life stages. Since I am old now, I can look back and see some of those communication stages in our own family. Interesting.....
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